In general, various robots are used at industrial sites, and such industrial robot systems control robot motions through position control, speed control, current control, and the like.
Recently, robot mechanisms that were conventionally applied in certain industrial fields have been applied to other industrial fields with the development of robotics, and accordingly, robots such as home cleaning robots, programing educational robots, toy robots, and the like for various uses such as home, education, entertainment, and the like are being manufactured.
In addition, the need for miniaturization and weight reduction of industrial network modules that control motors on the basis of network communication, such as Ethernet, has gradually increased recently in the industrial automation system market.
One of core technologies for such developments in the field of robotics is a technology for controlling an actuator, that is, a drive motor which is adopted in a robot.
When several to several tens of actuators are installed in one robot, a high level of control mechanism is necessary for precisely controlling each of the actuators and for simultaneously and organically controlling all the actuators to have relations with each other.
Particularly, when a plurality of actuators are controlled by one central controller, each of the actuators includes a sensor (an encoder) which detects a state of the actuator and a driver (a motor) for supplying a drive power to the actuator.
Here, because several to several tens of wirings are necessary between the actuator controller and the drivers or the controller (the motor controller) and the sensors, there are many restrictions on diversity in structures of robots due to difficulties in wiring as the number of actuators increases.
In addition, when the number of actuators has to be increased or decreased due to a design change of a robot, all of the actuator controller, sensor, and driver have to be changed accordingly.
Meanwhile, FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an actuator module including a conventional industrial network module.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, an industrial network module 10 including an industrial network is used for various kinds of actuator modules 30 and 50.
However, because the majority of conventional network modules 10 are a basic type coupled to a rear surface of the actuator module 30 or 50, there is a disadvantage in that they increase the entire weight and load of an apparatus for accommodating various connectors for controlling the actuator module 30 or 50.
Furthermore, when various manipulators using the actuator module 30 or 50 are implemented, because a use range decreases according to restrictions on use and an overall structure and installation processes are complex, management, such as maintenance and repair, is not easy.